2018 Disneyland Food and Wine Festival First Timer’s Recap

The 2018 Disneyland Food and Wine Festival kicked off on March 2 at Disney California Adventure Park. If you haven’t experienced a Disney Food and Wine event, you need to make plans to GO to this one! Here’s a recap of a first timer’s experience at the most delicious Disneyland festival of the year.

When the information about the 2018 Disneyland Food and Wine Festival dates hit my inbox last December, I knew I wanted to make this trip happen. Thanks to a partnership with Disneyland who provided tickets and food vouchers, it did!

Food? Yes.

Wine? YES.

Disneyland? YES. YES. YES!!!

I happily joined 5 other bloggers to visit the 2018 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival and report back on our experience. I was a first timer to the Disneyland event- here’s how we spent the two days at the parks.

So I was all in. I vowed to take a bite or sip of everything I could to give this true first timer the full 2018 Disneyland Food and Wine Festival experience!

I put together a video to show you just what is in store if you’re heading to Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Fest.

Zomg, y’all, it was all really good (except for one unfortunate beet drink experience. Blech.)

Things to Know About the 2018 Disneyland Food and Wine Festival As a First Timer

The festival runs from March 2, 2018, to April 12, 2018.

It’s held exclusively at Disney California Adventure Park and entrance to the festival is included in the price of your theme park ticket.

Food and Wine, however, are not included. So bring your coins so you can eat and drink around California!

Rose gold Minnie ears optional- but highly recommended.

You will want to try a little bit of everything, so pace yourself!

The portion sizes are small and that’s on purpose. It’s to give you a little taste of everything California has to offer without filling you up on just one thing.

Booth Locations of the Disneyland Food and Wine Festival

There are three general areas where you can find the booths that comprise the Disneyland Food and Wine festival in Disney California Adventure.

When you walk in, you’ll find kiosks immediately to your right as you pass under the arch announcing the festival.

Follow these all the way toward the Beer Garden located in the Paradise Garden area. There will be booths on both sides as you head toward the Beer Garden, where there are even more booths waiting for you!

But don’t rush too fast toward that fabulous Beer Garden. One of the earliest booths had the best option for a non-foodie like me.

I had the best cheese soup in a bread bowl from a booth called California Craft Brews.

The third location to find booths is in the Hollywood Backlot.

If you’re heading over to see any of your favorite Marvel characters (Captain America, Spider-Man, and Black Panther are all meeting in this area) you’ll run right into them.

We sampled this delightful mimosa flight back there at the Nuts About Cheese booth: the raspberry rocked our socks off!

Why Disneyland Annual Passholder’s Want to Food And Wine It Up

Annual Passholders: you know Disney loves you guys!

The 2018 Disneyland Food and Wine Festival Annual Passholder perks show you just how much.

Find this sign to take full advantage of your AP benefits. Mine just expired, so I was a #sadpanda all weekend long.

You can buy exclusive merchandise only available to those with Annual Passholder status, get some fun AP buttons, and purchase the Sip & Savor pass, an exclusive benefit for Disneyland Annual Passholders.

Disneyland Food and Wine Sip & Savor Pass

This was pretty sweet!

My friend Britni, the only current Disneyland AP holder in the group, was able to purchase the Sip & Savor pass for $45.

This came with coupons she would redeem at the booths in the festival. She was able to make the most of her pass by only using the coupons on the items that cost the most: she’s super smart like that!

Patty Holliday

If she isn’t chasing her four kids around Northern Virginia, Patty is chasing four bars on her phone to share her authentic and fun stories on social media and her blog, My No-Guilt Life. She’s also one half of the Marvel Moms, an online community for discussing the Marvel fandom. You can catch up on her runDisney fun at No-Guilt Disney.